Tahoe pt2: A trip to Nevada, and Echo Lake

Welcome, well-rested reader, as I update you on the second part of our break in Lake Tahoe.

We began our second day here with a visit to the Ehrman Mansion, also known as Pine Lodge:

It's a beautiful summer residence here on the lake, with great views and some lovely interiors. Here in the US, visiting such a place often depends on the services of something they call a docent, which back in the UK we'd call a volunteer guide. Our guide was first class, and even the other 8 folks we did the tour with managed to raise some sensible questions. I was stunned.

Back in the early 1920s you'd have visited the Pine Lodge by getting the train up from San Francisco to Truckee, then changing to the narrow gauge line that ran to Tahoe City, before finally boarding the steamer that chugged down the lake to stop at the private mooring. I felt incredibly jealous of those that had done the trip in the 1920s as the docent described it. Somehow, 4 hours in your car doesn't quite compare.

On our third day here, we took a trip over the mountains in the other direction, to head to Carson City, the state capital of Nevada, and its rather nice railway museum:

This is really a museum of Nevada's railroads, and the significant part they played in the state's early history. Nevada's early prosperity relied on gold and silver mining, and the first trans-continental rail route was partly financed using money from those endeavours. Without that connection to both coasts, Nevada was pretty isolated and remote.

And in some ways it still is today; Nevada is two thirds of the size of California, but has only about one twelfth of the population. It still makes money out of mining, as well as tourism: tourists can take advantage of relatively liberal laws on gambling, marriage and divorce. As we drove through Nevada, we were struck by how open and empty it looked; a far cry from the Bay Area.

We spent the afternoon walking at a place called Echo Lake, which is right at the top of the mountain that most folks will pass over on the way into Tahoe. It's another tremendously beautiful place, if slightly hard to get to:

Now, whilst sat on a rock having a drink here, we did actually feel an earthquake. But mostly what you see here is adaptation due to the wind:

We'll soon be off to Sacramento for a couple of days, for... yes... more railway museums! We'll try to avoid more earthquakes, but I can't promise...